One Training Session of Many
by Cowering-Bond
Summary: A further expounding around the training sessions between Bam and Endorsi in s1. Some headcanon regarding the fight progression for obvious reasons. Implied spoilers at the end of both chapters, you have been warned. Each chapter is from the PoV of one of the characters!
1. Bam the Irregular's PoV

In an ironic twist of fate, I came upon the realization that I would have to learn how to do one of the things I was specifically instructed to never do.

A female figure that emitted an air of regality stood at the other side of the hallway, waiting for me to lunge at her. I didn't think I had it in me to go through with it. To physically attack anyone, for any reason.

 _It feels like only a couple of days ago when Rachel told me to never fight for any reason. Now I am learning to fight, so I can protect her wish._

Swallowing my fears, I ran towards her and tried to hit her. Key-word on tried. I should have expected her to dodge, because she had handled several people who were way stronger than me at once. Before I even knew what had happened, I was staring at the ceiling with this painful sensation in my back.

The figure, Endorsi, sighed at me. I slowly got up and trudged back to the other side of the room. _The only way to get better is to keep trying._

 _"Rule 1: You must anticipate what your opponent is going to do. If you don't, you will always fall short,"_ Endorsi told me, with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

She wasn't the only one who felt annoyed. I was annoyed as well; not because I had failed to hit her, but because _I tried to hit her._ I didn't like the idea of hitting anyone, regardless if it was necessary or not.

* * *

The next few attempts were similar to the first one. Eventually, a surprised look crossed my face as I realized she tended to dodge right rather than left. _I should attack in that direction instead!_

Endorsi stared at me with a strange look in her eyes. I wondered what she thought right then.

I found out rather shortly. I lunged at her, and punched to the right. However, she didn't move anywhere, and instead swept my feet out from under me. How irritating…

 _"Rule 1a: Anticipate your opponent anticipating you. I was wondering when you'd attack to the right instead of normal. Right before you attacked, the most ridiculous expression crossed your face, so I figured you had come up with a plan. And, as it turns out, I was right!"_ Endorsi stated in a triumphant tone.

In other words, she told me to hide my emotions. At that point, I was wondering if she had any positive emotions.

This time, she volunteered to help me up. She was smiling, but it looked more like she was gloating at me more than giving advice. _"One more round. Try your hardest this time!"_

* * *

Rachel told me that my thoughts would affect my actions. I could see that she was right. I had decided to go against my morals and do whatever it takes to accomplish my savior's dream. She had saved me, so I figured I should "save" her as well.

With these thoughts in my head, I charged at Endorsi one more time. To my surprise, she aimed straight at my face instead of trying to counter me. In shock, I ducked barely in time.

 _Yes! I'm finally getting somewhere!_

I looked up at Endorsi with my own triumphant smirk. It didn't occur to me that the fight wasn't over. She then hit me to the floor in my moment of weakness.

I felt the wind go out of me. I just sat there for a few seconds trying to catch a breath. Endorsi looked down at me, and to my surprise told me we would practice more tomorrow.

I didn't want to practice more, but I had to. I had to help all of the people around me. In my mind, I believed that nothing mattered as long as Rachel accomplished her dream.

* * *

 _"Looking back on that session, I realize now how naive I was. You probably were refraining from making fun of me the whole time, Endorsi."_

 _"All that while, I wanted to help Rachel accomplish her dream. I didn't realize until too late that she **didn't want my help.** "_


	2. Princess Endorsi's PoV

I don't really know how I got persuaded into helping that kid.

He didn't have the will to fight. I would describe it as something is holding him back. He has the potential in him to be great at fighting. It's pretty silly…I literally had to tell him to attack me, even AFTER he asked me to train him.

Eventually he did try to hit me. As expected from a seemingly-new fighter, he was extremely predictable. He aimed straight at my stomach, so I simply dodged to my left. I then casually hit him to the floor.

I've got to admit, I felt bad after I hit him, which was really uncharacteristic of me. I couldn't afford to feel bad when I hit someone before in order to become a Jahad princess.

 **(Cowering-Bond: Yes, I just used 'Jahad' instead of 'Zahard'. Fight me.)**

 _I must be getting soft._

He looked really annoyed as well. It looked like he was annoyed for not hitting me. I didn't think he would be the type who only wanted to win in battle, so I was a little confused.

He slowly trudged to the other side of the room.

For lack of any better ideas, I told him the rule you typically expect someone to know when they step in to fighting. I mainly wanted to avoid saying I felt guilty for hitting him.

I told him to keep trying. No point in attacking only once. If he wanted to beat me, he would have to try harder than I did in the past to get stronger.

* * *

The next few attempts were similar to the first one. However, his second-to-last attempt was a little different.

He made an " _I just solved this puzzle!_ " expression when I countered him this time. I was a tad troubled upon seeing that expression. It brought back bad memories…

Unfortunately for him, I thought I already know what he's planning, based on something I was told when I was fighting the other "Unnis".

" _You always tend to dodge to your left, so you can then try to land an attack with your dominant side. You won't be beat me if you can't mix-up your battle strategy!"_ To my mild amusement, I realized I still had that bad habit, and had done that in every round so far.

Bam's battle perception was remarkable for someone who's only tried landing a punch a few times, so I didn't put it past him to try to "read" me. However, I wasn't 100% sure, so I wondered what I should do…

Before I could finish my internal monologue, all of a sudden he rushed at me for another round. A little shocked, I put my hands up to block an attack, but he completely whiffed his attack by aiming to my left. I chuckled a little at my guess earlier, because it wasn't often I got that sort of thing right.

I then simply swept his feet out from under him. I probably hit him too hard, because he was looking at me with this incredulous look in his eyes.

I volunteered to help him up, but I was thinking about something else. _He really reminds me of myself, back when I first started my fight to gain power._ I realized I was getting lost on a nostalgia trip, and I quickly got back into my normal mindset, after remembering how weak I was back then. I then encouraged him to try one last time with all his might.

* * *

Bam charged at me once again, but this time I decided it would be smart to attack him first. Maybe I was subconsciously afraid of him, an Irregular.

 _The stories about the other Irregulars talk about their fearsome might. Unlike this guy, who seems to rather not fight at all. Who knows, I'm probably worried that he would suddenly use a massive amount of power to kill me._

To my surprise, he dodged that attack of mine, and smirked at me. In my mind, this all but confirmed he was going to kill me. _At the time_ _, I was very insecure back then, despite what my appearance suggested._

In my sudden fright, I hit him with my full strength. He fell to the floor, and honestly I believed I had killed him for a second. He then got up, and struggled to breathe for a few seconds. My breathing was erratic as well; using my full power was stressful, and I was nervous from his supposed assassination-attempt.

Horrified by my own weakness, I quickly put up a neutral expression and told him we would train more tomorrow.

* * *

 _"I have to ask you, though. Didn't Rachel betraying you overall benefit you? You became more aware of the world you are in, instead of being ignorant. To top it all, my fear of you killing me back then could be justified now."_

 _"I can tell you though, that while Irregulars are considered monsters by many people, not all of them are. Sure, a lot of them are like monsters. However, not all of them are bad people…a few of them have genuinely good intentions, and are only 'monsters' because their ideals are better than everyone else's. Even if they are a bit naive...like you, Bam."_


End file.
